Pleasant Dreams

Chapter 1 – A Plan

“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.”

/Jacob/\Harry\

Nothing could describe the joy Sirius Black felt when Dumbledore informed him that he would get Harry for the summer. It was like a dream come true for him. He had failed Harry once before by choosing vengeance instead of his duty as a godfather; by choosing to kill Peter for his treachery against Lily and James instead of taking care of what they considered the most important person in their world. Dumbledore was giving him a second chance, as the old man often tended to do to the people who least deserved them, and Sirius promised himself to do right by Harry. With that promise and the knowledge of the unfortunate events just before Harry’s fourth year came to a close, Sirius was ready to see Harry at the lowest point of the young man’s life and help him through it.

It broke his heart to see his godson in such a state.

Instead of the bright boy he’d exchanged countless letters with all of last year, a stranger was in his place. When Harry had walked through the doors of Grimmauld Place, Sirius was shocked at how skinny and unhealthy his godson was. In Harry’s third year he had passed it off as Harry being a growing boy and not quite hitting puberty yet. Now, though, it was painfully obvious how little the boy had eaten and how he wasn’t taking care of himself.

Despite Dumbledore warning him of how poorly Harry was taking the aftermath of the Tri-Wizard Tournament, Sirius hadn’t been fully prepared to see the severity of the situation. Even in the most deadly of situations, Sirius had always been joking; it was in his nature. Now, though, what Harry needed in his life was a caring adult. What he needed to figure out was the course of action he should take.

Sirius frowned sadly as he sat down at the kitchen table and took out a quill, sheet of parchment, and a pot of ink. His smooth calligraphy graced the parchment as he began to write down his plans. Harry needed several basic things: food, water, clothing, shelter, and love. Sirius tapped the quill against his nose. Dumbledore had told him that Harry witnessed Diggory’s death and that it gave him nightmares. The youngest Weasley and Harry’s best friend, Ron, told them that he would wake in the middle of the night screaming and that it’d take a while to get him to calm down. His frown deepened. He hadn’t heard Harry screaming the entire week that his godson had been staying with him.

‘He can’t do magic outside of school. It’s obvious that he has the nightmares, but how is he hiding them from me?’ Sirius pondered. His eyes widened and he snapped his fingers.

“Kreacher!” he called.

The grumpy house elf appeared and barely bowed. “Master called me?” he asked before muttering under his breath about having to serve a blood traitor.

“Quiet,” Sirius demanded sharply. “Have you noticed anything odd concerning Harry when he sleeps?”

“Filthy half-blood soiling my mistress’ house,” Kreacher grumbled angrily, “has silencing dome conjured around bed when he lays his worthless hide—”

“Enough!” Sirius yelled. “I do not care if you speak ill of me, but you will not dare to speak foully about Harry or I will hand ownership of you to Dumbledore. Have I made myself clear?”

Kreacher’s eyes widened at the threat. “Crystal,” he snarled.

“Now, you will discreetly figure out how Harry is conjuring this silencing dome around his bed and prevent it from happening in the future. Understood?”

“Yes, Master,” Kreacher grit out hatefully before disappearing.

Sirius took in deep breaths to calm himself down. If he and Kreacher didn’t hate each other so much, he would free Kreacher without a second thought. The old house elf, as annoying and frustrating as he was, knew too much, though, and would most likely give away information about him, the Order of the Phoenix (as he had openly discussed offering Grimmauld Place as its Headquarters to Dumbledore just weeks prior to Voldemort’s impromptu resurrection and consequential destruction), and Harry.

Sirius would be damned before he let anyone harm his godson again.

There was a ding at his fireplace and Sirius grinned, placing his quill down and walking towards the living room. “Moony, pleasant to see you!” he said happily at the head in the fireplace, grateful for the distraction.

“You as well, Padfoot,” Remus replied, grinning. “Is it alright for me to come through?”

“Of course! Need you ask?”

He watched with rabbits frolicking about in his stomach as his old friend (and possibly something more in the future, if they could manage to rekindle what they had lost when Lily and James died) stepped through the fireplace and grinned devilishly at him. They seemed to survey each other briefly, to reassure themselves that the other really was alright, and then embraced in a tender hug.

“How is everything?” Remus asked pleasantly. “Where’s Harry?”

Sirius’s face lost the smile. He sighed sadly. “He’s in his room, Remus. He…he’s not doing so well.”

Remus frowned. “Why didn’t you say anything sooner?” he admonished gently.

“It’s just, I was so happy to get Harry this summer, Moony,” Sirius replied quietly, sinking down onto one of the couches. “I thought Harry would like some space so I let him stay in his room like he’d requested. Something doesn’t sit right with me, though. Ron told Dumbledore that Harry was having nightmares that wake him screaming bloody murder, and I’ve yet to hear one. Kreacher just informed me that Harry has managed to conjure a silencing dome around his bed. I’m trying to figure out what to do. I know Harry probably won’t like me too much when I have to invade his privacy, but I need to make sure that he is looking after himself and isn’t falling apart. I can’t fail him again, Remus. I can’t.”

Remus hugged Sirius once more. “You won’t,” he assured quietly, using the pad of his thumb to wipe away a stray tear that trailed down the side of Sirius’ face. “What can I do to help?”

Sirius gave a watery, bark of a laugh. “Are you sure you’re up for anything? I mean, the full moon was only a few days ago.”

Remus grinned. “I can assure you, I’m more than up for this. We both have to look after Harry since Lily and James are gone. Besides, he’s a good kid. He doesn’t deserve everything that’s happened to him.”

Sirius nodded his head and stood up. “I’ve started writing down a list of things that Harry needs,” he said as he led Remus back to the kitchen. “I just don’t quite know where to start or how to help him.”

Remus looked over the brief, simple list. “It seems like the root of his problems is the nightmares. If he didn’t have them, he could probably sleep a lot better. If he sleeps better, he may be more inclined to eat.”

Sirius nodded thoughtfully. “How do I get him a decent night’s rest, though? Dreamless Sleep is too addicting, and I don’t think doping him on sleeping potions will cure him at all.”

Remus hummed. “You also need to get him to talk about what had happened at the graveyard,” he said softly. “Bottling everything up inside and not having any way to vent won’t help him at all.”

Sirius closed his eyes and rubbed his temples. He desperately racked his brain for suggestions, but found that he couldn’t think of anything. Chewing his lip in contemplation, Sirius wondered what Lily would’ve done. He didn’t care if the remedy was Muggle or magical as long as it cured Harry and ended his torment. Despite his attempts, anything Lily would’ve done to stop bad dreams would’ve occurred during their first year before Lily discovered the magic of potions. Even without spending twelve years in Azkaban, Sirius would’ve had some trouble remembering.

“Remus, what would Lily have done?” he asked the werewolf, his voice muffled as he mumbled the question into the table.

Remus blinked. “I’m fairly certain that she drank peppermint tea,” he mused softly. “You could also drink chamomile tea, put lavender oils in a bath, or increase water and fiber intake.”

Sirius cocked an eyebrow. “You remember all of that?” he asked in disbelief.

Remus blushed slightly. “Well, I spent a good deal of my time living in the Muggle world with a friend who also suffered from nightmares,” he defended. “And Muggles believe that having a low level of a certain hormone in your body, dopamine, can cause nightmares or bad dreams so they try to raise that level.”

“How long would that take?” Sirius inquired.

Remus shrugged helplessly. “It might be a long time before Harry stops experiencing nightmares. His bad dreams are likely to have been caused by Diggory’s death, though I can’t say for certain since I have no idea what his sleeping patterns were before. Traumatic events most often trigger a long-lasting series of recurrent nightmares, and I’m fairly certain that Harry has been experiencing that.”

“Harry wrote to me about some of his bad dreams,” Sirius said sharply, standing up and sprinting up the stairs to his bedroom. He could hear Remus following him as he ruffled through his trunk. In less than a few moments, he brought out a stack of letters tied together. “These were more prophetic in nature, though, and the only thing I can think of to block the nightmares is for him to learn Occlumency. Perhaps meditation exercises, as well.”

“Other cultures also have remedies for bad dreams,” Remus said. “I remember Lily telling me about dreamcatchers.”

“Dreamcatchers?” Sirius asked curiously.

“Yes, dreamcatchers. They are Native American amulets that consist of a hoop made from willow and covered with sage as well as a web made from deer sinew. Feathers are also normally attached to the dreamcatcher to assist the flight of good dreams,” Remus explained, easily slipping into teacher mode.

“You’ve gotten smarter, Remus,” Sirius praised, smirking slightly at the blushing werewolf. He paused and his eyes opened wide in realization. “A dreamcatcher just might be what we need!”

“There’s no guarantee that a dreamcatcher will work, Sirius,” Remus protested softly, not wanting the other man to get his hopes up.

“I remember seeing a dreamcatcher thing or something like it in the Black family vault, Remus! Why would a Muggle artifact find its way inside of the Black family vault if it didn’t work?”

“A dreamcatcher? In the Black family vault?” Remus asked in disbelief.

“Yes! I saw it before I ran away from home,” Sirius replied hurriedly, unable to contain the excitement that bubbled in his stomach. “It was on a pedestal in the vault and seemed to be really important. We need to go get it as soon as we can!”

“Wait, what if it’s bewitched?” Gazing at Sirius’ expression, Remus immediately regretted asking.

Sirius look offended. “Do you really think I’d give anything to Harry from my family without thoroughly checking it first?” he asked defensively.

Remus ducked his head in shame. “I’m sorry, Sirius. I didn’t mean to imply…”

Sirius sighed softly. “It’s alright, Remus,” he replied gently. “We still have a lot to work through.” He reached for Remus’ hand and squeezed it. “And we’ll make it. First, though, we need to help Harry. I’ll be needing your assistance in retrieving the dreamcatcher.”

Remus smiled and nodded his head. “Of course.”

Sirius smiled back and stood up. “I’m going to see if Harry is up to a trip to Diagon Alley. The fresh air will be good for him. Besides, staying in Grimmauld Place all day every day is enough to drive someone absolutely batty.”

He left the room quickly, not noticing Remus’ sad expression at his last statement, and knocked softly on the door to Harry’s bedroom. He waited somewhat impatiently for his godson to open the door and barely prevented the soft gasp that wanted to escape from between his lips. Harry was looking even unhealthier every day.

“Sirius?”

Sirius barely found his voice. “Hey, Harry. Remus is here and we were just thinking about taking a trip to Diagon Alley. You should come with us.”

Harry bit his lip gently. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?” the young Gryffindor asked quietly. “Even with Pettigrew captured, people still aren’t completely comfortable with you in public. I’d rather they not give you a hard time considering the fact that they’re still nuts about…about what happened last month.”

Sirius noticed Harry’s small flinch at the reminder of the end of the Tri-Wizard Tournament. “I’m positive, Harry. We could use the fresh air and I’d really enjoy spending the time with you. Please?”

Harry hesitated briefly before nodding his head. “Let me shower?”

“Take your time,” Sirius insisted. “Remus and I will wait; we’re in no hurry. After we finish shopping, we’ll grab a bite to eat. Deal?”

Harry nodded his head and disappeared into his room again.

‘We’ll help you, Harry,’ Sirius vowed silently. ‘You’ll make it through this. I’ll make sure of it.’